The present invention relates to a self-propelled or drawn dump trailers or carts which have a support frame carried by two or more wheels and, mounted to the frame, a bin that is pivotable about a horizontal, normally longitudinally extending axis so that both materials can be discharged from the bin to the side of the truck or cart. For many applications, it is further necessary for the bin to be raised a substantial distance above ground so that the bin may clear the side walls of a receiving container.
Dump carts of this type are normally especially adapted for the intended use. The cart of the present invention is especially adapted for use in orchards where only a low overhead clearance is available, that is, where the uppermost part of the cart must clear the lower branches of the orchard trees.
Generally speaking, dump carts suitable for use in orchards are used in conjunction with mechanical or pneumatic implements for cleaning the orchard floor of debris such as leaves, twigs, nut shells and the like. The cart is typically drawn behind the implement and filled until full. When full, the material is dumped, either at collection points on the orchard floor, or as is frequently the case, into waiting trailers or trucks. To dump materials into the trucks the bin must be raised relatively high above ground, much higher than its normal filling position when the cart is drawn through the orchard. Since the truck is also laterally spaced from the dump cart, means must also be provided to span the horizontal distance between the cart and the truck.
Prior art side dump carts for use in low overhead clearance environments, such as in orchards sought to achieve the required features in a variety or ways, combining the necessarily low height of the cart with the required horizontal dumping span represented the most difficult problems. Attempts have been made to pivot the bin about an axis which is sufficiently far outward of the support frame of the cart so that the bin edge over which the material is dumped can be placed over the material-receiving container, e.g., the side wall of the truck. This meant that a good portion of the bin was located outside the wheel-base of the cart, rendering the cart unstable, especially in the elevated position. To avoid a potentially dangerous tipover of the cart during the dumping operation, elaborate, complicated and expensive moveable counterweights have been incorporated in such carts. This rendered the carts more expensive and required additional maintenance. Moreover, failure of the counterweight moving mechanisms was possible and could render the cart unstable with a resulting danger to persons and property in the vicinity of the cart.
Other attempts to span the horizontal distance between the dump cart and the truck include an elongation of the dumping side of the bin so that the horizontal distance could be spanned when the bin was pivoted into its dumping position. In its normal, material receiving and storage position, however, such a dump cart had an increased height which limited its usefulness in low overhead environments and rendered it unusable in many low clearance orchards.
As a consequence of these shortcomings of the prior art, many potential users of dump carts, and particularly many orchard operators had to accept the realtively expensive and fail-prone counterweight dump carts described above or they had to use simple collecting carts which were drawn behind the debris collecting implements and from which the collected materials had to be loaded onto a waiting truck manually or with the help of independent conveyors or lifting devices.